Gambling is a popular pastime. In many areas where gambling is legal, casinos provide a forum for individuals to gamble. In the casino there usually are specialized types of casino tables that are used to present gambling and game-playing opportunities to players. One genre of casino game is called a table game. In a table game, one or more players usually sit around a table where the game is played. In some table games, such as blackjack, one or more participants play against the house (i.e., the casino). The odds in such games favor the house. In still other types of table games such as roulette, the player plays against a fixed set of odds, but the game is moderated by the house. Here too, the odds favor the house. In other table games, such as poker, the house is paid to acts as a moderator.
Many casino table games are turn-based games, where multiple players of the same game take turns wagering money, chips, or another instruments. Tables are useful to encourage play and/or gambling activity. Because of the turn-based nature of these games, and the rate of play, there are several times in every game and between games when individual players are idle; that is, they have no action that the table game requires of them.
In recent years, online casinos have become very popular. Online casinos have generally attempted to mimic the look and feel of land-based casinos. Like their physical counterparts, online casinos have table games where there are times in every game and between games that individual players are idle.
In one effort to reduce the idle time of individual players, one land-based casino has embedded a video poker game for each potential player into the table surface of a Caribbean Stud poker table. While this permits players to play video poker while also playing Caribbean Stud poker, it presents a disadvantage because it may distract the individual player when it is time for her to take her turn in the table game. In addition, it could be distracting or disturbing to the other table game players.